Miller honors “pioneers of success” at golf outing

Wartburg College Sports Releases

Six of Wartburg College’s 30 NCAA Division III individual national champions were represented at the annual Knights’ summer wrestling golf outing Friday, June 19.

Head coach Jim Miller, during the program portion of the event, centered his address to the crowd at the Waverly Municipal Golf and Country Club about the important contributions by the two eldest.

“I wanted to make sure that Dean Gavin and Lance Christenson ’93 received some recognition for what they did to help the program get where it is today,” he said. “Without Dean winning that first national title, not only for wrestling but for the entire athletic program, and Lance being part of a team that helped kick off our remarkable run of conference tournament and dual wins, we wouldn’t be celebrating nationals and conference titles and so forth.”

Gavin, who won the 190-pound national title in 1989, appeared in the outing for the first time in several years, as did Christenson, who won a national championship during a runner-up team effort for Wartburg in 1993. Between the two of them, they accounted for five All-American awards and two Iowa Conference individual titles along with their two national championships.

Gavin’s march to that college’s inaugural national championship included a pair of wins in duals against UW-Platteville and Coe where he stepped in at heavyweight. At 190, he claimed his weight class title at the Knights Invitational and All-Lutheran tournament before defeating Buena Vista’s Rich Caldwell to win the conference title, the first and only of his career. He came back a few weeks later and turned in four wins to capture the national championship.

“My biggest memory at nationals was defeating (Ithaca University’s) Mike Fusilli in the finals,” he said. “It was close…I’m thinking it was a 3-2 final. This was huge for me because he stopped me at nationals the year before.”

Gavin, who ended with three national tournament appearances and four berths in the conference tournament finals during his career, was quick to credit a former Knights’ assistant coach and his high school coach for his successful collegiate experience.

“I will always remember what (assistant coach) Al Frost did for me,” he said. “He drove me hard…always trying to get me to reach my full potential. There were days where it took me to my limit, but, in the end, all of that hard work paid off. I really needed those values.

I was also fortunate to have a high school coach (Joe Smith) that pointed me in the direction of Wartburg,” he added.

Christenson, who goes into the Wartburg Athletic Hall of Fame this fall, commented that his wrestling and overall college experience at Wartburg helped pave the way for his current career. A representative for Dice Holdings in the Des Moines area, he concluded his career with 111 wins.

“I earned my degree and received a great education (from Wartburg),” he said. “The experiences I gained in the classroom and wrestling room in regards to goal setting, perseverance, work ethic, dedication, time management, and so on are traits that I use on a daily basis to be successful in my career.

I would have to say winning a national title, which wouldn’t have happened without the guidance of Coach Miller, was a huge competition highlight,” he added. “However, watching the team we had improve so quickly and contending for a team title in 1993 was very rewarding as well.”

Christenson’s path to Waverly involved a pair of high school friends and a teammate from Norwalk High School.

“(The late Dr. Richard) Walker recruited me with the help of a former high school teammate, Eric Stotts, who was currently wrestling for Wartburg,” he said. “I also had a couple of good buddies from Norwalk that were currently attending there and playing sports in Rod Evans (baseball) and Matt Mathias (golf).”

The pair’s experiences from Wartburg’s wrestling program have also helped them stay connected with the sport.

Gavin, who is a carpet layer in metro Des Moines, works with his sons, Gage and J.T., at Martensdale St. Mary’s in the junior high and pee wee programs. Christenson stays in tune with all of the local and national news and attends meets and duals from all divisions. He has even thought about getting his referee’s license or helping out with some local high school teams in the Des Moines area but is enjoying spending time with his daughters, Carly and Paige.